Little Things campaign for mental health and wellbeing launched today

Little Things Campaign

Little Things is a new mental health and wellbeing social marketing campaigns from the HSE’s National Office for Suicide Prevention, and created in partnership with over 20 partner organisations.  It was launched on Monday, 20^th October in Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 8.  The campaign has three messages to share. We want to increase the number of people who believe and know that the following are true:

     We all experience life’s storms – the day to day difficulties that are an ordinary, everyday part of life, like stress, grief, feeling down, worried, anxious

    There are things that you can do for yourself and others that will have a positive impact on how you feel, and how you cope

   You can find out more about the #littlethings and about mental wellbeing on yourmentalhealth.ie,  or call the Samaritans on 116123 for a listening ear.

The Stories:

As part of the Little Things campaign, three generous people have shared their experience of life’s storms, and what #littlethings worked for them in getting through those tough times.  Úna, Robert and Alan’s stories have been animated into 40’ TV and Radio adverts and will be widely shared throughout the campaign.  We also plan to add more stories to our social and website pages over the coming months.

New online resource:

www.yourmentalhealth.ie is a new online resource that contains the most comprehensive online database of mental health support services ever developed in Ireland.  The site is a place to learn about mental health, and how to support yourself and the people you love. You can find support services near you, and learn about the #littlethings that can make a big difference to how we feel.   Services are searchable by both location and topic and this new interactive online resource is mobile, tablet and desktop friendly.

The Little Things:

So, what are the #littlethings?  The #littlethings are acts of self-care that are proven to help us feel better and get through tough times. This is about you finding what works for you.

      Keeping Active

      Talking about your problems

      Doing things with others

      Eating healthily

      Staying in touch

      Drinking less alcohol

      Looking out for others

      Sleeping well

Our posters, cards and pictures are designed to be shared. They promote the #littlethings and encourage people to know how they can be helpful to our mental wellbeing. 

Social Media

The social media objectives for this campaign are:

      Promote the #littlethings - the posters, cards, images and animated stories to our audience

      Encourage people to share their own #littlethings, inspiring other people to find what works for them

      Make sure people know that yourmentalhealth.ie is there for more information on the #littlethings, mental wellbeing, and a full database of support services nationwide

      Make sure people know they can call the Samaritans on 116123 anytime, for a listening ear.

Launch

The launch takes place on Monday, 20^th October at 11.30 in Smock Alley Theatre.  Minister Kathleen Lynch will ask some of the CEOs from the partner agencies to sign the pledge wall as part of her speech.  This is a public statement of commitment that an organisation will undertake specific actions to support the roll out of the campaign..  

Social Media

1)      We have set up a Facebook page and Twitter account to help people share their #little things – these are currently at www.facebook.com/littlethingshub and on Twitter @littlethingshub.

Please like the Facebook page and follow @littlethingshub Twitter page, retweet any tweets and if you have any of your own, please do use the #lilttlethings

2)      We want to convey to people that #littlethings can make a big difference to how we feel. We want people to be able to share their own little things, either in words, pictures, videos, with their friends and loved ones.  Talking about what works for us does us good – and it can also help other people to find the #littlethings that could help them.  We would like you to also encourage your members, volunteers and ambassadors to share their #littlethings! We hope that we can all help to make the #littlethings campaign go viral, and inspire people to share what works for them on social media when they are finding things tough. We are hoping to get them to:

-share their #littlethings

-share the website (yourmentalhealth.ie)

-encourage others to share their #littlethings

3)      We have created sample content for you in the attached content calendar. Please feel free to use this content on any day from the 20^th October onwards, you do not need to follow the schedule, this has just been provided to give you ideas.  Just copy and paste the text and/or images and Facebook & Tweet away.

4)      Suggested Tweet/FB post: What are the #littlethings that you do to help you feel better when you are experiencing a tough time? Yourmentalhealth.ie @littlethingshub 

Sample response: My #littlethings are making my kids laugh, sleep, good chats & exercise yourmentalhealth.ie @littlethingshub what are yours @shaneo?

We hope you found this update useful and if you’d like more information about the campaign, please get in touch with the National Office for Suicide Prevention on info@nosp.ie.